Celebrity Eclipse 9 - 16 July 2011

I had 3 days off which I worked for one of them at the radio station and that’s the last time I will ever work at Newby House at Neath for the radio as my last two shows will be recorded at the new studios at Culverhouse Cross in Cardiff, funny but that is where I recorded some of my early TV shows!

Marie, Sam and I were picked up at 3am at the house by John from Executive Cars and taken to Heathrow Terminal 5 for a 7am flight to Rome. We all loved T5 and had a very nice breakfast there; next a shuttle train to the new sub terminal 5b and a 3hr flight to Rome, Sam was such a good boy and enjoyed the flight. Once in Rome and what has to be the most chaotic airports in the world we were met by a nice driver who took us to the ship, we also had Richard Gauntlet travelling with us to the ship, he’s a great act and also writes and directs panto every year, oh a good actor too!

When we got to the ship the beautiful Celebrity Eclipse we had a minor hitch, Marie and Sam’s names were on the list to board but mine wasn’t, it took a while for the security to sort it out and if it wasn’t for two lovely people Heather the production manager and Nastja from the back office I think I would be still standing on the quayside in Civitavecchia!

We quickly went to our stateroom which was allot smaller than the suite I get on Royal Caribbean but lovely all the same. We were starving so went in search of the Ocean Cafe, wow it was fab with a collection of dishes from around the world, I couldn’t resist the curry!

This ship has to be the most modern and most luxurious ships I have ever seen, the swimming pool area is so nice as is the lawn club, yes it has real grass around the aft end of the top deck with putting, bowls and a hot glass show, it also has a band playing on the lawn and you can sit on check blankets and have a picnic and a pims while listening to the band...amazing!

The public rooms are stunning, it has a 13 deck atrium and a 1300 seat theatre which is beautiful truly beautiful!

(Oh sorry I forgot to say about last cruise on Independence, it was a fab time with my closest friends Hughie & Dee and my shows could not have gone any better, H&D loved the ship so much they didn’t fly home with me from Lisbon as planned they stayed on until Southampton)

Now back to this ship the Celebrity Eclipse. The weather has been hot and sunny so Marie and Sam are very happy as there are so many things to do around the pool; Sam loves the dancing waterfalls, check out the photos.

My show was last night in the Eclipse Theatre and it went great, I really needed it to do so as it is my first time on here, the cruise director Que, I know what a cool name, he was really happy as was the Hotel Director so I am happy too! I’m back here next week and join the ship in beautiful Tallinn Estonia, I seem to go there allot!

We were in Cadiz Spain today; I took a nice pic of the Cathedral as we were docked almost on the town, Cadiz is the oldest town in Spain and is a great place to walk around, they have delicious hams here and fab wine too. It was another around the pool and a game of putting and a bean bag game which Sam thought was brilliant!

Tonight in the theatre it’s Richard Gauntlet’s show, he is a very funny man and we are excited about seeing his show tonight.

Well Richard’s show was absolutely fabulous we really enjoyed it, what a pro! Today we are in Lisbon, I was only here a week ago getting off Independence. Well, it is another glorious day and Sam has gone to his Kids Club called the fun factory so Marie and I are having a peaceful couple of hours in the sun by the pool. I have never spent so much time by the pool, but as Sam is here it’s a great option and he loves it!

Tonight it’s a man called Mark Donahue in the theatre, he’s a multi instrumentalist and a very good one too, so another great night onboard Eclipse! It’s Vigo Spain tomorrow so we may get off and stretch the legs, see you later!

Vigo was lovely, the sun was out and it was around 25degs, we took Sam to a brilliant toy shop on the quay side; it was where we bought him a motor bike which we posted home from Southampton one cruise. We then found a bouncy castle for him to have run around on, seeing that he missed out on one for his birthday party! Later it was a cold beer and back on the ship for another day around and in the pool.



The show that night was amazing it was called “Eclipse” it was a circus theme and it showed off this talented cast brilliantly. We had an hour back on the clock last night so in bed at 10pm and with an hour back we couldn’t believe we were in bed at 9pm!

Up this morning at 8am having had a huge sleep all of us, Sam watched Scooby Doo on the telly, I worked on my show for tonight and Marie potted around the stateroom before we went for breakfast, I really must now start to try and lose some weight.

Home tomorrow from Southampton and the weather looks like it’s going to be shocking!

Rehearsal went great, best sound ever on ships and the stage is huge and the auditorium is big and beautiful, I am looking forward to working tonight!